The mission of Christ Jesus was a healing mission. He came to heal the world of sickness, sin, and death; to show us how to escape from evil. He accomplished his mission by overcoming for himself all sense of mortality, and when he rose wholly above the consciousness of mortals the work had been handed on to his disciples. It is the same work in which we are engaged today. Christian Science has come to show us how to do this healing work, how to become true Christians, how to heal ourselves and others of every false belief, every phase of evil.
We have come to Christian Science because we want to be healed ourselves, primarily, and because we want to do all we can to heal others. This is the object of every activity in the Christian Science movement. All the works of Mrs. Eddy and the other publications of The Christian Science Publishing Society are written and published with this object, that they may heal humanity. The services of every Christian Science church are healing services; all the work of the Sunday school, of the reading-room, of the literature distribution committee, of the publication committee, is healing work, and every one who is engaged in any branch of work in a Christian Science church is doing something to forward this healing mission.
Jesus Christ left us one short prayer which is sufficient for all human need. In that prayer every petition except one deals with man's relation to God; but there is one petition which deals with man's relation to his fellow man. "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." These words must have been the outcome of our Lord's deepest experience in dealing with men and women in the world. He must have seen that what men most of all need to pray for in their intercourse with each other, is that they may learn how to forgive. Christian Science has come to explain the words and works of Jesus, so that all may learn how to be his disciples indeed, how to keep his commandments, how to pray the prayer of understanding, which he promised us God would answer.
